210 Mary Somervtlle. 



know how to appreciate your merit. You receive great 

 honours, my dear friend, but that which you confer on our 

 sex is still greater, for with talents and acquirements of 

 masculine magnitude you unite the most sensitive and 

 retiring modesty of the female sex ; indeed, I know not 

 any woman, perhaps I might say, any human being, who 

 would support so much applause without feeling the 

 weakness of vanity. Forgive me for allowing my pen 

 to run away with this undisguised praise, it looks so 

 much like compliment, but I assure you it comes 

 straight from the heart, and you must know that it is 



fully deserved I know not whether you have 



heard of the death of Professor de la Rive (the father) ; 

 it was an unexpected blow, which has fallen heavily on 

 all his family. It is indeed a great loss to Geneva, 

 both as a man of science and a most excellent citizen. 



M. Rossi* has left us to occupy the chair of political 

 economy of the late M. Say, at Paris; his absence is 

 sadly felt, and it is in vain to look around for any one 



capable of replacing him 



Yours affectionately, 



J. MARCET. 



FROM ADMIRAL "W. H. SMYTH TO MRS. SOMER.VILLE. 

 CRESCENT, BEDFORD, October 3rd, 1835. 



MY DEAR MADAM, 



As an opportunity offers of sending a note to 

 town, I beg to mention that I have somewhat impatiently 

 waited for some appearance of settled weather, in order 



* M. Pellegrino Rossi, afterwards Minister of France at Rome, then 

 Prime Minister to Pius the Ninth ; murdered in 1848 on the steps 

 of the Cancelleria, at Rome. 



